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Tuesday, June 2, 2009

chicken pot pie in summer, that ain't right.

Summer is crazy folks, seems I don't have much time in the hobble creek kitchen now that the kiddos are out of school. How many weeks of summer again? However, we do have to eat, so I have been squeaking in a few meals here and there.

Last summer, on the way to Lake Powell we stopped in Kanab for dinner. We ate a little place that I can't remember the name, but it had 3 bears in the title. It was so good! I had chicken pot pie soup in a homemade bread bowl. It has taken me until the next summer to try my own chicken pot pie soup (the bread bowl will come some day).

Chicken Pot Pie soup doesn't sound right in the summer, it sounds very wintry. However, good food is welcome in my home all year round.

Now the key to any good chicken soup is a good broth, and good broth does not come out of can. Sorry. So skip that boneless skinless crap and get yourself a whole chicken. Turn your oven on to 450 degrees. Rinse the chicken inside and out and take out the innards if they came with the chicken. Pat dry. Put it in your biggest roasting pan that you will be able to use on the stove to hold the soup. Drizzle with olive oil and brush it with a pastry brush all over so it is evenly coated. Now salt and pepper the crap out of it.

Place it in the oven uncovered for about 45 minutes until it is nice and browned. Pull it out and add the following.

Sprinkle of thyme

Sprinkle of Sage

2-3 garlic cloves minced

5-6 bay leaves

spoonful of chicken base

3-4 cups of water

Put the lid on and return to the oven and roast for 2-3 hours at 300 degrees. When the chicken is falling off the bone, remove chicken from the broth and let the broth boil on the stove. De- bone the chicken putting all the bones and skin back into the broth while it boils. Let the broth boil with the bones for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop up

potatoes (about 2 medium)

carrots (about 4)

celery (3 stalks)

1 medium onion

Also meanwhile, make Lori's no fail pie crust Now this recipe will make more pie crust than you need, but the recipe doesn't "half" very good, so either freeze the rest or make a pie and bring it to me. Raspberry Rhubarb please.

Roll the dough out flat just like you would to make a pie (about half the dough), and place it on a cookie sheet and bake according to recipe until golden brown. You don't need to poke with a fork. But you do need to give it a egg wash, don't use the same pastry brush that you brushed the raw chicken with, you people are disgusting.

Now that your broth has boiled for thirty minutes, pour it through a strainer into a bowl (if you have one of the fat separators, use it, I did. It will make you soup lighter and you really don't need the fat).

Now bring your pot back to the stove and heat about 1 T of olive oil in the pot. Add the onions to saute, followed by the carrots, celery and potatoes. Saute just enough to allow the veggies to release their aromas. Now add the stock back in the pot. It might not be enough liquid, so add some water or canned chicken broth. Taste the broth if it is too salty, add water, if it needs more, add canned chicken broth.

Cover and simmer the veggies until they are tender. Chop up the chicken and add to the soup. Add a couple handfuls of frozen sweet corn. Add a handful of fresh chopped parsley (I used dried, curse you Walmart for luring me with your "one stop shopping" and being out of something I need! you do it to me every time!) Continue to simmer till the chicken is warmed and the corn is cooked. Taste it, how is the seasoning?

Add the pie crust to individual bowls just before serving. This makes a ton of soup.